Modern medicine - The end of a miracle

Modern Medicine was the theme of a 1993 issue of The Good Life.

This was the introductory article in that issue, which looked at issues such as When to see a doctor, The dangers of modern medicine, Dangers of medical tests, Side effects of drugs, Iatrogenic illnes, Over-caution in preventive medicine, etc.

The issue also carried a profile of Dr Robert S Mendelsohn, a staunch critic of medical science and the medical system, better known as 'The Medical Heretic'.

This introductory article examines the extent to which modern medicine can be considered a 'miracle', and why this so-called miracle is coming to and end.

The end of a miracle!

The 'miracle' of modern medicine is coming to an end. After two centuries of apparent progress, doctors today are faced with more unsolved problems than ever before.

It is not just the new disease likes Aids which modern medicine cannot solve. Nor the degenerative diseases like heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

But those disease which medicine was supposed to have ’conquered” long ago are making a fierce comeback.

In its May 31 1993 issue, Time Magazine reports: “Malaria. The disease that seemed vanquished in the ‘50s makes a comeback – and millions are suffering and dying.'

On May 17 1993, the cover of Newsweek showed an X-ray picture of a diseased lung while huge bold letters read: ”TB. Return of a killer disease. How to fight it."

“How to fight it” is becoming increasingly difficult as new strains of the tuberculosis bacteria prove resistant to even the most powerful antibiotics.

It‘s the same with malaria. It’s the same with many other lesser-known diseases that have made a comeback.

An article in The Straits Times on July 19 1993 was headlined. “The Big Apple: Rotting at the Core.” I thought it was an article about social decline in New York.

No. It was about a bacteria called enterococci, which thrives in human guts. Infections caused by the bacteria used to be easily treated. Not any more. Again, new stains have grown resistant to common antibiotics.

The return of common infectious diseases like TB and malaria is eroding away modern medicine’s last claims to success.

Medical science used to claim success at everything. And there was a widespread feeling that it would one day wipe out diseases completely.

False promises

For a while, this seemed like a realistic expectation. Vaccination, immunization and antibiotics controlled the major infectious diseases like smallpox, polio, cholera, tuberculosis and malaria. Chemotherapy and radiation offered hope for cancer. Tranquilizers promised to take care of mental illnesses.

Today, researchers keep finding “genetic links” for a wide range of diseases and conditions, the latest being homosexuality. No doubt doctors believe they can one day treat that too. Maybe in the next century.

But while medical science continues to promise miracles, there is a growing realization that it does not have all the answers to our health problems.

In recent decades, it has become increasingly clear that the “war against cancer” has not been successful, in spite of the billions of dollars spent on cancer research. Equally unsuccessful has been the wars against heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and other degenerative diseases.

So modern medicine was left to boast its “success” with infectious diseases. Then came Aids. With it came the realization that medicine is not particularly successful at treating or preventing viral diseases either.

Meanwhile, the widespread use of tranquillizers, anti-depressants and other mood-altering drugs has produced nations of addicts.

Historical success?

With no cure in sight for most modern-day ailments, modern medicine can only boast its historical achievements – the conquest of malaria, tuberculosis, etc. Now, even that may not be worth boasting about.

To begin with, medical science does not deserve full credit for controlling infectious diseases. If you study history, you will discover that the rate of infectious diseases fell long before there was any vaccination or antibiotics. The real credit belongs to modern sanitation other improvements in living conditions.

We see the reverse happening today. In big cities like New York, the numbers of new TB cases have risen more than three times – from 1,307 cases in 1978 to over 4,000 cases annually by 1991. Why? Not because New York lacks antibiotics but because the poor in New York live in terrible conditions and they eat junk foods.

in fact, people in big cities like New York take too much antibiotics. That is another reason for the rise in TB, enteroccoci infections and a host of other problems related to poor immune function – chronic fatigue syndrome, candida, cancer, and Aids.

Modern medicine has made us weaker and, at the same time, made bacteria and viruses stronger.

It is time we re-evaluate the role of medical science in our lives. It’s time we learn to discern when we really need medical help – and stop running to the nearest doctor at the slightest symptom of illness.